text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"But instances of the miserable consequences which attend this false fear, and which must have fallen under every one's observation, who hath got this key to the human mind, would be endless in the repetition. It is this which makes those domestic politicians, who are filling their brains with continual suspicions and stratagems about nothing; who are a curse to every family in which they are to be found; who are the most mischievous, and I believe in their own hearts the most miserable of all beings. They can enjoy no pleasure for fear their friends and acquaintance should have lain some traps to deceive and gull them. The timorous hare doth not exceed them in fear, altho' she doth in wisdom; for the number of her foes justifies her terrors: but these voluntary seekers of objects of fear, may generally find their only enemy at home; and like Swift's fat man in the croud, if they could remove themselves from the number of those imaginary enemies which they complain of, they would find the whole croud dwindled into nothing. But I shall always esteem it as a greater effect of true wisdom, to suffer myself to be duped by a great variety of my acquaintance, than to fix myself down as a constant dupe to my own unnecessary anxieties. Nothing indeed to me could be so terrible, as to spend my life continually haunted with ghosts, form'd by my own capricious imagination: for whatever enemies I find without, I will always endeavour not to cherish one in my own bosom.
(I.i.1, pp. 37-8)",2009-09-14 19:37:58 UTC,"One may spend their ""life continually haunted with ghosts,"" formed by one's ""own capricious imagination"" enemies may be cherished in one's bosom",2004-04-27 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"",
,Searching haunt and imagination in HDIS,13212,4923
"""To deliver my Eustace from this wretched situation, how willingly would I remove myself into some remote corner of the earth! But this I dare not propose, as I know it would shake his generous soul almost to madness: and was he even to consent that I should banish myself for his sake, my ghost would every day haunt his imagination, and we should be equally as miserable when separate, as we are now by being united. Good God! support me to bear with patience the thought that our union is our misery! How sometimes doth my stubborn heart rebel, when my imagination hath presented me with a certain method by which I could relieve my husband's misery, and my own intolerable anguish! But how can I dare, even for a moment, impiously to think of taking the power of life and death out of the hands of the disposer of life and immortality? yet such horrid thoughts, my sister, have risen in your Amanda's breast; but thanks to the mercy and grave of my redeemer, they past hastily through my bosom, and from the extreme wretchedness of my earthly situation (for surely no torment can be greater to a tender heart, than the breaking up an affection that was reciprocal) I found a beam of hope dart in upon my mind, that this affliction was sent me in order to wean my heart from being too strongly fixed on any happiness this world can bestow; and to teach me that our chief views in this our christian calling, must be centered in the promises we have of happiness hereafter. This christian hope, cherished and cultivated, hath restored some degree of calmness to my mind. 'Tis true my heart is still greatly hurt when I see my dear Eustace unhappy, yet no transitory evils can render that mind compleatly wretched which is endued with this animating hope. By this I can look with pleasure on the approach of death; and by this I can with patience submit to wear out the number of days allotted me by infinite wisdom.""
(III.iv.10, pp. 95-7)",2009-09-14 19:37:58 UTC,"""But this I dare not propose, as I know it would shake his generous soul almost to madness: and was he even to consent that I should banish myself for his sake, my ghost would every day haunt his imagination, and we should be equally as miserable when separate, as we are now by being united.""",2004-04-27 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2009-01-23,"","",Searching haunt and imagination in HDIS,13213,4923
"If then it be true, that man is left at liberty by choice and deliberation to fix on his own path, nothing is more demonstrable than that he can choose but one road at a time. An illustration from the objects of our senses will make this yet more clear and intelligible. Was a man to mount on horseback in order to go from Cobham toLondon, whilst he pursues his proper path he by every step arrives nearer his purposed end: but if on first setting out he turns his horse's head towards Guilford, and spurs on in the Portsmouth road, altho' he should swear with the utmost vehemence that his journey would end in London, yet will he never arrive thither, till by conviction of being in the wrong he is prevailed on to turn into the right road. The traveller in this case would be called mad, who whilst he was visibly spurring his horse towardsPortsmouth, should assert that he was journeying full speed towards London: yet in what concerns the human mind, every man expects to be allow'd in his perfect senses, whilst by various fallacies he endeavours to prove that to be the only true path to perfection which he himself through some favourite passion or inclination hath chosen: There appears to be but two grand master passions or movers in the human mind, namely, Love and Pride. And what constitutes the beauty or deformity of a man's character, is the choice he makes under which banner he determines to enlist himself: but there is a strong distinction between different degrees in the same thing, and a mixture of two contraries. Thus a man may be more or less proud; but ifPride be his characteristic, he cannot be a good man. So a man may be more or less attracted by love, and rouzed to benevolent actions; but whilst he preserves Love as the characteristic of his mind, he cannot be a bad man.
But we here speak of the inherent and predominant passion in his soul; for the being ensnared by temptation into the temporary gratification of appetites, is entirely foreign to the present purpose.
(Vol III, pp. 128-30)",2009-09-14 19:37:58 UTC,"""There appears to be but two grand master passions or movers in the human mind, namely, Love and Pride.""",2004-06-05 00:00:00 UTC,Prologue to Part the Fifth,Ruling Passion,,"",•The prologue is filled with interesting critical assertions about literature and the mind. ,"Searching ""predominant passion"" in HDIS",13215,4923
"If then it be true, that man is left at liberty by choice and deliberation to fix on his own path, nothing is more demonstrable than that he can choose but one road at a time. An illustration from the objects of our senses will make this yet more clear and intelligible. Was a man to mount on horseback in order to go from Cobham toLondon, whilst he pursues his proper path he by every step arrives nearer his purposed end: but if on first setting out he turns his horse's head towards Guilford, and spurs on in the Portsmouth road, altho' he should swear with the utmost vehemence that his journey would end in London, yet will he never arrive thither, till by conviction of being in the wrong he is prevailed on to turn into the right road. The traveller in this case would be called mad, who whilst he was visibly spurring his horse towardsPortsmouth, should assert that he was journeying full speed towards London: yet in what concerns the human mind, every man expects to be allow'd in his perfect senses, whilst by various fallacies he endeavours to prove that to be the only true path to perfection which he himself through some favourite passion or inclination hath chosen: There appears to be but two grand master passions or movers in the human mind, namely, Love and Pride. And what constitutes the beauty or deformity of a man's character, is the choice he makes under which banner he determines to enlist himself: but there is a strong distinction between different degrees in the same thing, and a mixture of two contraries. Thus a man may be more or less proud; but ifPride be his characteristic, he cannot be a good man. So a man may be more or less attracted by love, and rouzed to benevolent actions; but whilst he preserves Love as the characteristic of his mind, he cannot be a bad man.
But we here speak of the inherent and predominant passion in his soul; for the being ensnared by temptation into the temporary gratification of appetites, is entirely foreign to the present purpose.
(Vol III, pp. 128-30)",2009-09-14 19:37:58 UTC,"There are ""inherent and predominant"" passions in the soul",2004-06-05 00:00:00 UTC,Prologue to Part the Fifth,Ruling Passion,,"",•The prologue is filled with interesting critical assertions about literature and the mind. ,"Searching ""predominant passion"" in HDIS",13216,4923
"I had fixed in my mind the highest admiration for my lord Shaftesbury's writings, which I believe originally arose from the common conversation I heard at table from my father and his companions. Nothing could be more exactly adapted to the humour I at this time indulged, than that freedom of thought and enquiry, which he asserts to be the distinguishing prerogative of the human mind. I was by him conveyed in imagination on the throne of judgment, and all nature seemed waiting with dependence on my determination. The crowns and scepters of the whole world laid at my feet, would not have given me half the gratification as thus believing myself the sovereign judge of all things. I had such an aversion to every thing that had the least appearance of being gloomy or morose, and such a delight in giving an unbounded vent to every whimsical piece of pleasantry which presented itself to my fancy, that the making RIDICULE the TEST OF TRUTH was most perfectly agreeable to my inclinations. I turned therefore every smart expression, or bon mot of my author, into a basis on which to build something that I called a principle; and thus whilst the standing ridicule, or not standing it, was to prove truth or falsehood, I joined with my author in boasting my security, that however I might be frightened out of my wits, I never could beridiculed out of them. That pleasant fancy of a grave bishop's believing in fairies, a[1] with the words tradition and revelation being jumbled in so very near to that story, had the effect designed, and easily convinced me, that all belief in revelation or tradition had in it something very ridiculous, and therefore could not suit with the dignity of human wisdom. The ridicule of believing in fairies ran away with me, and I began to suspect every thing of being a childish incredible tale. Thus on the one hand was I allured, whilst on the other I was terrified by such expressions as these, THE FETTERS OF PRIESTCRAFT, BIGOTRY, SUPERSTITION, VULGAR ENTHUSIASM, SOLEMN MUMMERY, RELIGIOUS IMPOSTURE, and all RESTRAINTS made to BUBBLE the understanding, and to ENSLAVE the FREE and GENEROUS SPIRIT. The illustrations which he uses too from outward objects, came very strongly to the assistance of raising my horror at the thoughts of any restraint. ""Nor do we say (writes our b[2] author) that he is a good man, when having his hands tied up he is hindered from doing the mischief he designs, or (which is in a manner the same) when he abstains from executing his ill purpose, through a fear of some impending punishment, or through the allurement of some exterior reward."" The word slavery had before sufficiently raised my horror; but when the picture of slavery illustrated by a man bound in chains was placed before my view, nothing but the idea of condemned felons presented themselves to my imagination, and I fled immediatly from such a disagreeable spectacle into the pleasing contemplation of my own liberty of judgment, and the free agency of all my faculties. The latter part of my author's before-quoted sentence, where he makes the fear of punishment or hope of reward indications of a servility of spirit, was not lost upon me: for I felt such a liberality in the thought of being good, because I myself had discovered it to be right and fit, such an exaltation of my own understanding, in being thus made sole judge to myself of right and wrong, that I disdained to be fettered by the paltry fear of punishment, or allured by the selfish hope of reward. I scorned all restraint and dependence, and esteemed myself free and unbounded as the air.
(pp. 276-9)",2013-11-14 21:53:36 UTC,"""I was by him conveyed in imagination on the throne of judgment, and all nature seemed waiting with dependence on my determination.""",2004-07-01 00:00:00 UTC,Prologue to Part the Fifth,"",,Empire,•Cross-reference: Shaftesbury and Slavery. ,"Searching ""throne"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Prose)",13224,4923
"Portia. As soon therefore as the imaginary belief of my being hurt by the loss of Oliver left Melantha's mind, like an enraged conqueror it vacated not the town till it had put to the sword all its peaceful inhabitants, till it had ravaged and laid waste every joyous thought within her bosom.
(pp. 136-7)",2009-09-14 19:37:59 UTC,"An imaginary belief may leave the mind and ""like an enraged conqueror it vacated not the town till it had put to the sword all its peaceful inhabitants, till it had ravaged and laid waste every joyous thought within her bosom""",2004-04-27 00:00:00 UTC,"Vol. 2, Part 3, Scene 9","",,"",
,"Searching ""conque"" and ""mind"" in HDIS",13226,4923
"Oh Ferdinand, (interrupted I) how preferable were you in my eyes when sunk in the lowest abyss of poverty! For how you came by that boasted fortune ---but reproaches are abhorrent to my nature; and my grief that Ferdinand should ever deserve them, is too deep and poignant to suffer my tongue to give them utterance.--You have murdered my once-loved Ferdinand ; for pity sake persist not in your barbarity by thus cruelly, like Aaron the Moor, placing the dead body of my friend continually in my sight; for by so shocking a spectacle I shall blind myself with weeping. If one grain of soft compassion yet remains in your breast, leave me to that tranquility which solitude alone can bestow. For my mind is not so conquered, but in this retirement, supported by innocence, I can find such enjoyments as I fear (with the deepest sorrow I express myself) you, O Ferdinand, can never taste again.""
(III.v.4, pp. 237-8)",2013-11-14 21:57:43 UTC,"""For my mind is not so conquered, but in this retirement, supported by innocence, I can find such enjoyments as I fear (with the deepest sorrow I express myself) you, O Ferdinand, can never taste again.""",2004-04-27 00:00:00 UTC,"Vol. 3, Part 5, Scene 4","",,Empire,"","Searching ""conque"" and ""mind"" in HDIS",13227,4923
"""My dearest Cordelia, (proceeded he) altho' she had a load of grief on her mind, sufficient to have sunk a less steady breast, by her gentle soothing and kind mitigations of my crimes brought me at last to some small degree of composure. Besides, I could not bear to be such an additional weight to her sorrow. I therefore at once determined to follow my Portia's example, and to seek a refuge in total retirement from the world. Fool that I was, to imagine that solitude would give to a guilty mind, which could not fly from its own thoughts, the calm tranquillity which innocence enjoys when escaped from the persecutions of others! In pursuance of this resolution I settled all my affairs. I intended to leave with my Cordelia means sufficient for an easy maintenance for life for herself and whole family, and to take for myself only enough to provide the plainest necessaries, so as not to be troubled in my retreat with the daily thoughts of supporting my wretched life as long as I was doom'd to endure it. Every thing was now thoroughly settled for my setting out, and I intended only to stop and pay the tribute of some heart-felt groans and tears of repentant sorrow at my Portia's grave, and then fly to the remotest part of the earth, when a strange cloudiness overspread the countenance of Oliver, and his lowring eyes seemed to threaten some impetuous storm. During the excess of my sorrow from the time I first feared I had lost the only treasure of my soul, my brother had seemed to enjoy a pleasure unusual to him; but my thoughts were too busily employed to bestow on him much observation: but from the time that my spirits seemed a little calm'd, or at least that I had exerted strength of mind enough to hide my sorrows, in compassion to my Cordelia, more within my own breast, this storm in the bosom of Oliver seemed to have been gathering, and now seeing me fixt in my purpose of flying for ever from the sight of him and all mankind, he began to wrangle and dispute with me on some mere trifles, which he would impose upon my unwilling ears, and with continual galling and fretting me, sometimes also barbarously touching the part which was but too tender, he forced from me this reproof: Oh Oliver! I am sorry that I cannot say with pleasure, Oh my brother! why will you delight to wound a heart already mangled with deep-felt sorrow? yet am I not fallen so low, but I can with pity look down on a wretch who hath wasted his whole life in the mistaken pursuit of seeking happiness from the misery of others: whose deep-laid plots have ever redounded on his own head, and whose malicious inventions have fixed no torments in any bosom but his own. Think not, mistaken Oliver, that because I have never declared my knowledge of the base malignity of your heart (which I would gladly have hid even from myself) that I have not perceived your vain efforts of conquering my mind and rendering me miserable. I have seen all your wiles and artifices; I have escaped them all; nor ever could have been reduced to the wretched state in which you now behold me, but from the folly of my own inventions. In this thought I feel a contrite pleasure arising from the very punishment I now undergo. --I should have proceeded farther, but Oliver suddenly interrupted me with a fury darting like lightning from his eyes: Vain wretch, (said he) if from that thought arises any satisfaction, soon will I wrest it from thy grasp, by shewing thee that thou hast been no other than the deluded dupe of my machinations throughout the whole course of thy fancy'd sagacious life. He then with an insulting sneer (hoping as he declared that it would fill my soul with fresh torments) laid open from the beginning all the deep-wrought contrivances of his life.""
(III.v.4, pp. 268-72)",2013-11-14 22:00:33 UTC,"""Think not, mistaken Oliver, that because I have never declared my knowledge of the base malignity of your heart (which I would gladly have hid even from myself) that I have not perceived your vain efforts of conquering my mind and rendering me miserable.""",2004-04-27 00:00:00 UTC,"Vol. 3, Part 5, Scene 4","",,Empire,"","Searching ""conque"" and ""mind"" in HDIS",13228,4923
"Portia. You yourselves, O ye Cry, whilst your view is to condemn what I have said of a discoverer, heedlesly have confirm'd my opinion by changing my terms, and using the word enquiries instead of discoveries. The character of a candid enquirer is very commendable; for in his search whatever he finds he immediately acknowledges; he gives his judgment liberty to exert itself, and restrains his imagination from soaring beyond its strength, and from declaring that he hath found what is not. Whereas what I call a discoverer, sets out in his search with an inclination to some particular point; he leads his judgment in chains, gives a loose to his imagination, and is sure to prove (at least to his own satisfaction) that the new and desired discovery is made.
(pp. 118-9)",2010-12-30 23:19:59 UTC,"""The character of a candid enquirer is very commendable; for in his search whatever he finds he immediately acknowledges; he gives his judgment liberty to exert itself, and restrains his imagination from soaring beyond its strength, and from declaring that he hath found what is not.""",2004-11-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Vol. I, Part i, Scene 7","",2010-12-30,"","",Searching in HDIS,13230,4923
"Portia. You yourselves, O ye Cry, whilst your view is to condemn what I have said of a discoverer, heedlesly have confirm'd my opinion by changing my terms, and using the word enquiries instead of discoveries. The character of a candid enquirer is very commendable; for in his search whatever he finds he immediately acknowledges; he gives his judgment liberty to exert itself, and restrains his imagination from soaring beyond its strength, and from declaring that he hath found what is not. Whereas what I call a discoverer, sets out in his search with an inclination to some particular point; he leads his judgment in chains, gives a loose to his imagination, and is sure to prove (at least to his own satisfaction) that the new and desired discovery is made.
(pp. 118-9)",2011-07-27 15:10:06 UTC,"""Whereas what I call a discoverer, sets out in his search with an inclination to some particular point; he leads his judgment in chains, gives a loose to his imagination, and is sure to prove (at least to his own satisfaction) that the new and desired discovery is made.""",2004-11-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Vol. I, Part i, Scene 7","",2011-07-27,Fetters,•The authors here are making a distinction that I've not drawn out...,"Searching in HDIS (Prose); found again ""imagination"" and ""chain""",13231,4923